College of Sciences

Te Wāhanga Pūtaiao

Massey University's College of Sciences is research-led. We provide transformative learning experiences to prepare our students for success in their chosen field and deliver globally-relevant solutions to fundamental and applied scientific challenges.

Study

Massey University offers world-leading and unique programmes across our specialities. Our agriculture programme is no.1 in New Zealand according to global rankings and we offer the only veterinary programme in New Zealand ranked in the top 25 in the world.

Research

Massey University demands excellence in our sciences-related research. The College of Sciences brings together experts from several disciplines to further knowledge and make a difference in New Zealand and the world.

Accreditation and rankings

Our programmes are ranked as some of the best in the world, and we are accredited by major industry bodies internationally. Below is a selection of accreditations for sciences at Massey.

Massey is ranked by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) as one of the top 50 universities for agriculture. QS is an organisation that ranks universities worldwide in various topics.

The Bachelor of Engineering with Honours programme has provisional accreditation by Engineering NZ as a professional engineering degree under the Washington Accord. This allows our graduates to work internationally.

The Massey veterinary programme is ranked by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) as 29th in the world. QS is an organisation that ranks universities worldwide in various topics.

Massey is ranked in the world's top 200 universities for built environment in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

The Bachelor of Food Technology with Honours programme is approved by the US-based Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

Massey University is an accredited veterinary college by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Accreditation is achieved through a review process conducted by an external review panel of practitioners and academics that verifies that the program meets the Requirements of an Accredited College of Veterinary Medicine.

Staff

Pro Vice-Chancellor

Professor Geor is an internationally-recognised veterinary and agricultural science specialist, with expertise in equine medicine, nutrition and sport science. After spending nearly 30 years teaching and researching in America, he returned to New Zealand to take up the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor College of Sciences in 2015.

Deputy PVC (Academic)

Professor Hall is the Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic) for the College of Sciences. His expertise is in chemistry. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry he was a founding principal investigator in the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.

Deputy PVC (Research)

Distinguished Professor Gaven Martin is the head of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study, the former president of the New Zealand Mathematical Society, and the editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Journal of Mathematics.

Head of School of Fundamental Sciences

Professor Hazelton, head of the School of Fundamental Sciences, is a professor of statistics. His research interests are in smoothing methods, biostatistics,spatial statistics and statistical modelling.

Head of School of Food and Advanced Technology

A professor of postharvest technology, Professor Heyes' research background is in cell physiology, with more recent research focusing on connecting science to growth of the horticulture sector based on novel, high-value niche products.

Head of School of Veterinary Science

Professor Huxley joined Massey University in May 2018, from the University of Nottingham. His research expertise is in dairy cow health and endemic diseases of dairy cattle, particularly lameness and the impact of the housed environment on animal health and welfare.

Director Stakeholder Engagement

Claire works to leverage the College’s capability, networks, facilities and knowledge platforms in order to create a better future for New Zealand and the world. Claire is your contact if you are an organisation that wishes to work with the College of Sciences.

Meet our graduates

I loved my experience at Massey University, keeping busy with sport, study and Massey Young Farmer’s Club. My time at Massey University gave me friendships and skills that will last the rest of my life.

My Massey study experience was excellent. I loved the interaction with the lecturers - especially in the smaller classes. Good lecturers along with interactive classes, field-trips and applicable assignments made for a great learning environment.

My time at Massey was really worthwhile and I picked up a number of life skills including time management, people skills, research techniques and study skills, all of which are still useful to me in my everyday work.

I love detail and complexity. I love pulling apart systems and the underlying logic to see what really makes them tick. I find it absolutely exciting to develop models which emulate real-world behaviours.

Real world, job-preparedness is great at Massey as you work on projects and presentations right from the first year. There is a great student to faculty ratio allowing excellent support from academic staff who are leaders in their fields.

Pūhoro STEM Academy

The academy, set up by Massey University with Te Puni Kōkiri and Our Land and Water National Science Challenge support, fosters young Maori school pupils from Year 11 on their journey through to university, and ultimately the workforce. The programme works to engage with teachers and whanau to support the students’ science study in the Manawatū and Bay of Plenty and to build a wider community of Pūhoro students who share their passion for science.

Events

6th International Palaeoflood Conference

27-31 January 2020

The 6th International Palaeoflood Conference is being held at Massey University in Palmerston North in January 2020.

The need for robust reconstructions of flood histories is ever more pressing in an era of rapid global change. Improved understanding of past river behaviour and flood series extension are required to properly inform and prepare river managers, and society as a whole.

Chemistry workshops for high school students

17 June – 28 June 2019

Massey University’s chemistry department in Auckland are running free workshops for schools, providing level 2 and level 3 students with a hands-on experience in an undergraduate laboratory. The workshops include ‘Chemical Cluedo’ and ‘Synthesis, purification and analysis of a medicinal compound’. These workshops can be booked by teachers for groups of students. The content directly relates to NCEA achievement standards (AS 91391, 91388 and 91164).

August 2019

River Practitioners Workshop

26-27 June 2019

New Zealand river managers and engineers are tasked with working in some of the most dynamic river systems in the world. Sudden and rapid changes in these channels can render control and modification structures redundant, threaten their integrity, or undo months of river control work.

In this workshop we will introduce the key processes driving river behaviour in New Zealand.

The International Symposium of Integrative Zoology

2-7 December 2019

The International Symposium of Integrative Zoology is an annual conference sponsored by the International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS) and the journal Integrative Zoology. In 2019 the conference is hosted by Massey in Auckland, New Zealand with the theme of 'Zoological studies for animal conservation'.

A project to undertake a nationwide case-control study of the disease leptospirosis was awarded $1,199,841 from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) in 2018. Massey's Associate Professor Jackie Benschop is Principal Investigator on this multi-university project.

Associate Professor Jackie BenschopHealth Research Council of New Zealand

Associate Professor Georg Zellmer was awarded $832,000 from the Royal Society's Marsden Fund for the project 'Water in spinel: a robust hygrometer for the Earth and Planetary Sciences'.

Associate Professor Jens Dietrich received funding for his research into closing the gaps in Static Program Analysis. This project will look at new ways of detecting bugs and vulnerabilities in computer software that can be exploited for malicious activities.

Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh was the the first New Zealander to receive the 2018 American Dairy Science Association Distinguished Service Award. The award recognises unusually outstanding and consistent contributions to the welfare of the dairy industry.

Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan has been honoured with a Supreme Silver Medal from Wageningen University and Research Centre, one of the Netherlands' top universities.
Professor Moughan, a Fellow Laureate of the Riddet Institute, has a long and distinguished career in protein science both at Massey and at Wageningen, where he spends time working and teaching every year.

Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger and Dr Elke Pahl were awarded $910,000 from the Royal Society's of New Zealand's Marsden Fund to explore and extend the periodic table of elements towards the super-heavy region.

Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger has been awarded the Dan Walls medal by the New Zealand Institute of Physics. The award is presented annually to a physicist working in New Zealand for at least ten years who is deemed to have made the greatest impact both nationally and internationally in his or her field of research.

Dr Carl Mesarich was awarded $300,000 from the Royal Society's Marsden Fund for the research project 'Making the switch: cell surface modifications that enable plant-pathogenic fungi to differentiate and maintain infection-related cellular morphotypes during host colonization'

Dr Carl MesarichRoyal Society Te Apārangi

Dr David Simpson, along with Professor Paul Glendinning of the University of Manchester, received $500,000 for the project 'Organised chaos: Using geometry to explain robust chaotic dynamics in switched dynamical systems'.

Dr David Winter received $300,000 funding for the project 'Treasure from the junk pile: Do transposable elements drive the evolution of gene expression?'

Dr Gabor Kereszturi was awarded $999,000 from the 2018 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour Fund for his project 'Assessing New Zealand’s environmental and mineral indicators using air- and spaceborne hyperspectral imaging'.

Dr Gabor Kereszturi

Work with us

The College of Sciences has developed close relationships with industry across our areas of expertise.

We work with our partners on industry-relevant research and professional development and match final year students in some areas with companies to work on real world projects. Talk to us to find out how you can work with the College.

Location

Auckland campus

Massey University’s Auckland campus is in Albany on the North Shore of Auckland. College of Sciences are based on the main campus in the Mathematical Sciences building, with food technology, engineering and much of natural sciences on the nearby Otehe Rohe campus.

Manawatū campus

Massey University’s Manawatū campus is in Palmerston North. The College of Sciences is based in the Science Towers off the central concourse, Aghort buildings, Riddet Complex and other buildings around campus.